Where Underdogs Rise to the Top

By

Steve Dollar

Nov. 23, 2012 9:33 p.m. ET

"And the winner is …"

Those four words begin echoing Monday night at the 22nd annual Gotham Independent Film Awards, marking the start of a movie award season that won't end until Feb. 24, 2013 and the 85th annual Academy Awards. Though the Gothams attract much less national media attention than the Oscars, the event's first-in-line status and its focus on movies made with independent financing has made its nods noteworthy indicators of dark-horse contenders.

"It's a platform that puts films on the radar," said Joana Vicente, executive director of IFP, a New York-based nonprofit organization that serves the independent film community. "Every year, you can pinpoint at least one film or filmmaker that went on to bigger things."

She noted
Kathryn Bigelow's
win in 2009, when her Iraq War film "The Hurt Locker" won Gothams for best ensemble and best feature, and went on to win Academy Awards for best picture and director. "No one was really talking about it," she said. "It really got great momentum coming out of the Gothams." Likewise, In 2010, Debra Granik's Appalachian drama "Winter's Bone" also won for best ensemble and best feature, leading to Oscar nominations for best picture and best actress –a breakthrough for
Jennifer Lawrence,
now a major Hollywood star.

The awards, which will be staged at Cipriani Wall Street and hosted by "Sleepwalk With Me" star (and best actor nominee) Mike Birbiglia, may boost the prospects of Quvenzhané Wallis, the now 8-year-old star of "Beasts of the Southern Wild" also nominated for best actor and considered a likely Academy Award nominee. In previous years, Gotham winners Amy Adams, Rinko Kikuchi, Ellen Page and Melissa Leo also were Oscar nominees.

Nominees are chosen from a broad range of what can be called "independent" film. Three out of five nominees for best feature are from major U.S. directors:
Paul Thomas Anderson
("The Master"),
Wes Anderson
("Moonrise Kingdom") and Richard Linklater ("Bernie"). Although each represents an intensely original vision, they're of a different scale than the other two films, Julia Loktev's "The Loneliest Planet" and Ana DuVernay's "Middle of Nowhere," whose budgets were a fraction of the reported $30 million spent to produce "The Master."

"I could say I could make 30 of my movies for that," said Ms. Loktev, referring to Mr. Anderson's much-debated drama about a charismatic cult leader (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and his intimate disciple (Joachim Phoenix). "But it shouldn't be a question of budget. That seems like a silly way of thinking about things. It should be about a way of thinking."

The nominations are made by several different panels of film critics, choosing from a pool of about 200 submissions, with a final vote made by similar panels of film professionals. "We elevate everyone on the same level," Ms. Vicente said of the choices. Yet, the awards also are aware that there are levels. Since 2006, the ceremony also has included a prize for Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You, given to an undistributed film in partnership with the Museum of Modern Art, which screens each of the nominees.

"My film had its world premiere at MoMA," said Frank V. Ross, a Chicago-based filmmaker whose "Tiger Tail in Blue" shares nominations with microbudget contenders Alex Karpovsky's "Red Flag," Amy Seimetz's "Sun Don't Shine," Terence Nance's "An Oversimplification of Her Beauty" and David and Nathan Zellner's "Kid-Thing"—films that made their mark on the festival circuit despite an otherwise obscure status. "It's really, really cool they even have the award. They have so many high profile people there they don't need to do this."

Mr. Ross spent $5,000 on his subtly observant comic drama, about a year in the life of a troubled marriage between a waiter and a teacher who work opposite hours. That budget is a third of the $15,000 grant that comes with the award—which also comes with a one-week theatrical run at the Cinema Village theater.

"The best award is just to have a person see the film and say it touched them and say it made them think," said Ms. Loktev, whose 2006 film "Day Night Day Night" also was Gotham-nominated. She confessed to a certain degree of pre-awards anxiety. "There's a kind of funny experience of having to do the red carpet. They really don't want to photograph you, they want to photograph Javier Bardem who's somewhere coming up. But you're still self-conscious about it, because those pictures are going to be Google-able for your next ex-boyfriend."

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